Photo: CFP

China's prosecutorial agencies arrested 367,000 suspects and prosecuted 761,000 people in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 18.5 percent and 6.8 percent respectively in moves to effectively improve people's sense of security.

The China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), the country's top prosecutorial body, revealed that in the first half of 2024, some 13,000 officials involved in duty-related crimes were transferred to prosecutors by supervisory committees of different levels, and 9,437 people were prosecuted, a year-on-year rise of 44 percent and 32.6 percent, respectively, with 15 of them being former provincial or ministerial level officials, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, legal authorities have proactively engaged in the management of sectoral and systemic corruption cases.

They have maintained their practice of investigating both activities of offering and taking bribes, and jointly announced eight typical cases of bribery crimes being punished in accordance with the law, with China's top court, the Supreme People's Court, prosecuting 1,348 people for bribe-taking crimes, up 31.3 percent year-on-year.

Such feats have enabled the relevant authorities to contribute to win the tough and protracted battle against corruption.

Prosecutors filed cases for investigations on 1,290 judicial officials in accordance with the law during the first half of 2024, all of whom were identified in the supervision of proceedings as twisting the law to suit their own purposes, abusing rights, or conducting forced confessions. The number is up by 28 percent compared with the same period last year.

With the aim of giving Chinese people a growing sense of security, some 28,000 individuals have been prosecuted for serious violent crimes, which include intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping.

Sticking to the principle of nipping problems in the bud, 4,655 criminals have been prosecuted as part of the campaign to combat organized crimes and root out local mafia groups.

As a result of China's resolute efforts to safeguard cybersecurity, about 120,000 criminals were prosecuted for engaging in internet fraud in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 5.5 percent.

China strictly punished telecom fraud and online gambling, and proactively participated in a special campaign to crack down on telecom fraud in northern Myanmar.

Through these efforts, financial supporters and core members of criminal syndicates have been legally punished, and dedicated activities to fight new types of telecom fraud have been implemented effectively. Around 25,000 people were prosecuted for telecommunications network fraud crimes and more than 45,000 individuals were prosecuted for assisting information network criminal activities, a 44.1 percent increase and 25.2 percent decrease year-on-year respectively.

Prosecutorial bodies filed and handled 111 public interest litigation cases combating telecom and online fraud, which in turn closed loopholes in the regulations.

Prosecutors also pushed forward a crackdown on internet rumors and trolls, promoting law-based cyberspace regulation and governance in the country.

China stepped up efforts to nurture law-based business environment, as 17 business-related severe cases were handed over by the SPP.

Around 62,000 people were prosecuted for disrupting the order of the market economy in the first half of the year, up 36.5 percent from 2023.

In business-related crimes, 5,827 employees in senior positions at private enterprises were prosecuted for embezzling, misappropriating funds and taking bribes by taking advantage of their posts, up by 41.1 percent on an annual basis.

China carried out in-depth efforts to crack down on illegal fund-raising to defuse financial risks. A total of 12,000 individuals engaged in financial fraud and 7,763 involving illegal fund-raising and illegal absorbing public deposits have been prosecuted, an increase of 7.6 percent and 4.1 percent year-on-year respectively.

China is committed to improving judicial safeguards for people's livelihoods, as prosecutors tightened penalties for serious crimes that endanger production safety and prosecuted 2,301 people in the first half of the year.

With 9,853 lawsuits filed for public interest in the field of production safety, China has worked to prevent and defuse major risks in production safety.

By prosecuting 4,918 people who committed crimes such as manufacturing and peddling foods and medicines of inferior quality and thereby causing serious harm to human health, prosecutors are effectively safeguarding food and drug safety based on the law.

Among the new industries such as community group buying and livestreaming e-commerce, 14,000 cases of public interest litigation related to food and drug safety were prosecuted. In addition, 3,136 people were prosecuted for crimes of infringing on citizens' personal information, while 2,615 cases of public interest litigation were handled.

In ensuring better protection for minors, 33,000 individuals involved in crimes against juveniles were prosecuted in the first half of the year.

In the case of minors who committed serious crimes, authorities have prosecuted 25,000 juvenile offenders according to the law in the first half of the year.

Besides, China has established 230 specialized schools with mechanisms for graded intervention and correction for juvenile criminal behaviors.

Global Times